Henry J. Kuss Jr., 67, Negotiator Of Billions in U.S. Weapons Sales

By PETER B. FLINT

Published: July 9, 1990

Henry J. Kuss Jr., an international military consultant who was the Defense Department's chief arms salesman in the 1960's, died of cancer Friday at Fairfax Hospital in Falls Church, Va., a family spokesman said. He was 67 years old and lived in McLean, Va.

Mr. Kuss was often called the most successful arms salesman in history, filling foreign orders totaling $15 billion over seven years. But he was modest about his selling talents, providing this assessment in 1967:

''We literally don't have to do a thing. We haven't had to go out and promote a sale since we started. We just make it known that it's possible to buy. If a country says to us, they can buy an item cheaper in another part of the world, then we say, 'Go ahead and buy it.' We just tell them they'd better make sure it's really cheaper.''

Associates said Mr. Kuss was a skillful negotiator who was adept at marketing the standardization, high quality and lower unit costs of American equipment. In 1965, Defense Secretary Robert S. McNamara presented him with the Meritorious Civilian Service Medal for his ''unparalleled ability as a negotiator.''

Studied Needs of NATO

Mr. Kuss was in charge of arms sales from 1962 to 1969. He had ample preparation for those duties, as a weapons technician for the Navy and in carrying out major studies of the long-range military needs of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization for the Defense Department. He was a resolute cold warrior dedicated to containing the spread of Communism.

After leaving the Government in 1969, Mr. Kuss founded two international consulting concerns, the American Trade and Finance Company and Calcussearch Inc. In 1985, the two companies were merged into DGA International, with Mr. Kuss staying on as a general associate.

Henry John Kuss Jr. was born on Nov. 10, 1922, in the Astoria section of Queens. He studied economics and mathematics at Holy Cross and St. John's universities and was a supply officer in the Navy in World War II.

He was a former vice president of the Howard Hughes Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., a member of the McLean Citizens Association and a president of the Potomac Hills Citizens Association.

Surviving are his wife, Johanna; two daughters, Linda Musick, of Burke, Va., and Karen Childs, of Augusta, Ga.; two brothers, Russell, of Burke, and Richard, of Los Angeles, and five grandchildren.